Posted chip average often a meaningless number

Published 8:14 pm, Wednesday, September 14, 2011

Good poker tournaments always come equipped with a board that displays the blinds and antes, amount of time remaining in a level, number of players remaining and the average chip count.

Determining the average chip count is easy math. All you have to do is multiply the starting chip stack values by the number of the players in the tournament, then divide that number by the players remaining in the field as the tournament progresses.

But here's one of the big secrets to that number — it's inconsequential.

A lot of players become obsessed with the chip average and in the process stop playing good poker in a mad rush to get to or exceed it.

“The best way to gauge how you are playing in a tournament is based upon where you stand in relation to the blinds,” said poker pro Andy Bloch, who has more than $4.2 million in tournament poker winnings. “If I know that I'm adding my stack in proportion to the blinds, I know I've played a good tournament regardless of whether or not I take a bad beat and don't make the money.”

The structure of the Main Event of the World Series of Poker starts off players with a $30,000 stack and blinds at 50-100 — that's 300 big blinds. It doesn't get more comfortable than that, and players begin with such healthy stacks that many players skip the opening hours of the tournament.

That number can go all the way down to 100, and a player remains in fantastic shape, even though they will be well below the posted chip average.

Most tournaments don't offer the same amount of play as the WSOP, so smaller numbers are more realistic.

If you can stay at 30 times the value of the big blind, that is a dangerous stack that can transform into a chip-leading position with a single double-up.

As you dip below 30, the level of discomfort should set in gradually. The chip-starved panic mode shouldn't set in until your chip stack lowers to 15 or less.

At this point, you have but one move — the all-in bullet.

Walk-up betting: In a town as progressive as Las Vegas, it's amazing that nobody has thought of this before. Last week, the Riviera made history as the first property to offer a walk-up sports betting kiosk right off the Strip with Lucky's Race and Sports Book.

Most casino sports books are located in the heart of the floor space. They are easy to get to but require a certain degree of commitment to make a bet. Walking by a window nonchalantly is another story, as Lucky's is banking on added convenience for added business.